There was once a man named Gulliver who traveled widely and wrote a book about his adventures called Gulliver’s Tales. During his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and finds himself a prisoner of a...more

In 2014, a crewman aboard a Japanese cargo ship videotaped the vessel illegally dumping oily waste into the ocean and later turned the tape over to the U.S. Coast Guard. One year later, the resulting $1.8 million penalty for...more

I am attending the SCCE Utilities and Energy Conference in Houston this week. As usual, the SCCE has put on a great event for the compliance practitioner. This year there is live blogging by Kortney Nordum so there should be...more

No company wants a corporate monitor. If you ask any General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer or Chief Executive Officer, they can list an infinite number of alternative punishments they would rather suffer than have a...more

Oil is hovering around $50 per barrel. For most of the US economy this drop in oil price has provided a much-needed economic boost. One piece on the NPR website, entitled “Oil Price Dip, Global Slowdown Create Crosscurrents...more

I have intentionally avoided a Top Five or Top Ten prediction list for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement going forward from 2014 into 2015. However there is one area of FCPA enforcement, which I think underwent...more

U.S. authorities continue to aggressively pursue cross-border investigations and to scrutinize closely the compliance programs of multinational corporations. Investigative activity by U.S. authorities in 2014 was particularly...more

I am often asked about franchisor liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Franchising has been a successful model in the US and now many corporations are looking at overseas expansion opportunities....more

Let’s play two! That was perhaps the most famous maxim from Ernie Banks, who died this past weekend at the age of 83. As for a sobriquet, it does not get much better than being known as ‘Mr. Cub’ from any baseball fan from 9...more

One of my favorite singers has always been Judy Collins. Like most of us, I was introduced to her through her interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s song Both Sides Now which she released in 1967. Joni Mitchell did not record her...more

In this episode, Compliance Week Editor-in-Chief Matt Kelly and I discuss the Avon and Alstom FCPA enforcement actions and then take a look at the ongoing Petrobras corruption scandal and what it means for Brazil. ...more

I am at the end of my week of Marx Brothers themed posts. As you can tell, I am a huge fan and several of you have asked which is my favorite film. Before answering I must confess that I much prefer their Paramount films to...more

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a great start to the New Year.
With that said, I hope you’re not suffering from the holiday hangover (and I don’t mean the alcohol-induced kind.) After taking...more

The key to being a successful (FCPA) prognosticator is never to keep score. If you do, you are likely to be disappointed.
Instead, I follow the strategy of calculated distraction – for example, I predicted last year...more

Today I conclude my 2014 blog posts with a final look at the Avon Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action. Before getting to the key lessons that a compliance practitioner may draw from this enforcement...more

Agency officials, attorneys and compliance professionals recently gathered to discuss the latest trends and developments in anti-corruption compliance at the American Conference Institute’s annual U.S. Foreign Corrupt...more

Life can be very humbling. The SEC has definitely humbled me.
For years now, I have been claiming that companies spend too much time worrying about gifts, meals and entertainment expenses under the FCPA, rather than...more

In this episode Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly and I discuss the COSO 2013 Framework implementation and its changes from the prior Framework. We also discuss the recent Bruker Corp & Dallas Airmotive FCPA enforcement...more

For most organizations, the risk of violating antitrust laws is real. But when it comes to the most serious of antitrust violations, such as cartels and significant price fixing schemes, there is often an “it won’t happen...more

For busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, we have tried to summarize the most important international anti-corruption developments in the past month with links to primary resources. November was definitely a...more